Introduction to Safeguarding at VPA
Victory Park Academy recognises that the welfare of the pupils is paramount and takes seriously its responsibility to safeguard and promote the welfare of the children and young people in its care.
Child protection is about keeping all children happy, safe and free from harm. If you have any concerns regarding the safety and/or well-being of your child whilst at school please contact the Safeguarding Lead, Mrs C Burch on 01702 904644.
If you are concerned that your child, or any other child is at risk of being harmed at home or in the community please call Children’s Social Care directly in the first instance on 01702 534496. Please do contact us to inform us of your concerns.
Our School will support all students by:
- Encouraging self-esteem and self-assertiveness, through the curriculum as well as our relationships, whilst not condoning aggression or bullying. Promoting a caring, safe and positive environment within the school.
- Liaising and working together with all other support services and those agencies involved in the safeguarding of children.
- Notifying Social Care and/or the police as soon as there is a significant concern.
- Providing ongoing support to a student who has suffered any form of abuse.
- If a student moves to a different school, we will ensure that all appropriate information is forwarded to their new school as a matter of urgency, under GDPR regulations.
If your child is ever concerned about safety, well-being or about a friend, they should talk to someone such as yourself (a parent or guardian) or a member of staff at school that they have a good relationship with. Talking helps, and if these people agree there is a problem, they will find other people to help. The designated staff lead Charlotte Burch , Deputy DSL Englantin Muca (head teacher) and Katherine Blight (SENCO).
Should there be any issue that you need to report to the Safeguarding Team, please email the following address and it will be picked up by a member of our team: Info@victorypark.org.uk
If you would like to view any of the academy policies, please select the following link: Policies
About the Safeguarding Lead
Hi, my name is Charlotte Burch, my role here at Victory Park is Safeguarding Lead and attendance officer. My job is to help our children and parents in lots of different ways.
Being a parent or carer at times is a hard job for everyone and at times we need a helping hand. That is part of my job to offer support and advice where I can or to signpost for further support.
I can offer support in lots of different ways. This might be lending a listening ear over the phone, signposting you for other support or it could be you coming into school to meet with me to talk about things in more depth. I want you to feel comfortable and for it to be a positive experience to get the best outcomes for you and your child. If home and school work together, this gives the best outcomes for your child.
I can also support you and identify any problems by completing a child and family assessment (what was an Early help assessment) that describes the arrangements and services that are on offer to help you and your family. It is about bringing everyone together and talking with you about the best way to give you the help that you feel you need, to enable you to make things within your family work better. This is known as a team around the child (TAC)
I am also the schools safeguarding Lead, this means that I put in policies and procedures to help keep all staff, children and visitors to the school safe. That the staff are trained to be able to respond to any safeguarding concerns in accordance to those policies and procedures.
We want our school to work as a community. You are the parents and carers and know what issues you face with your child and in your local communities. We want to work with you to improve the outcomes for the children going into adulthood, so if you have any ideas on further support you require, please do contact us. This could be things like Knife crime/self-harming support/mental wellbeing support/parenting/internet safety/ education support etc. We can look at how we can offer that support out to parents.
Termly, we ask for you to complete a questionnaire that informs us how things are going and what we need to look to improve, this is really important to help us help the children and you as their family. We have made this easier to complete in different formats and doesn't take long, if you need any help with this, please contact the school.
I look forward to working with you all.
Keeping Children Safe in Education
Link to Keeping children safe in education - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Safeguarding Information & Documents
Safeguarding Policies
County lines is a major, cross-cutting issue involving drugs, violence, gangs, criminal and sexual exploitation, modern slavery, and missing persons.
The response to tackle it involves the police, the National Crime Agency, a wide range of government departments, local government agencies and VCS (voluntary and community sector) organisations.
The UK Government defines county lines as: County lines is a term used to describe gangs and organised criminal networks involved in exporting illegal drugs into one or more importing areas within the UK, using dedicated mobile phone lines or other form of “deal line”.
They are likely to exploit children and vulnerable adults to move and store the drugs and money and they will often use coercion, intimidation, violence (including sexual violence) and weapons. County lines activity and the associated violence, drug dealing, and exploitation has a devastating impact on young people, vulnerable adults and local communities.
Operation Encompass
An important part of our commitment to keeping our pupils safe is sharing information with other organisations who work with and support children and families in Southend such as the Southend Single point of contact team(C-SPOC), Essex Police and other agencies that form the Southend Safeguarding Children Partnership. The school has also signed up to receive alerts from the Essex Police through Operation Encompass: this system enables the police to notify the school when a pupil has been exposed to domestic abuse or is missing from home. The DSL can then use the information that has been shared, in confidence, to ensure the wellbeing of the child or make provisions or adjustments to assist the child and their family.
Mental Health Support
Kooth is a free mental health resource, where you can access safe, anonymous support for children and young people aged 11-24 years.
If you are concerned about your child’s emotional or mental health, the following two websites offer support, including an online counselling service and a parent helpline:
Kooth – free, safe and anonymous online advice for young people Home - Kooth
XenZone is a provider of online mental health services for children, young people and adults. Kooth, from XenZone, is an online counselling and emotional well-being platform for children and young people, accessible through mobile, tablet and desktop and free at the point of use.
Online counsellors: Monday to Friday 12pm to 10pm; Saturday and Sunday 6pm to 10pm.
Mental health support
Beat eating disorders: 08088010711
fyp@beateatingdisorders.org.uk
Childline 0800 1111
MIND (Mental wellbeing charity) 0845 7660163
Kidscape (Personal Safety) 020 7730 3300
Kooth (Mental health and wellbeing)
NHS Direct 111
NSPCC 08088005000
NSPCC | The UK children's charity | NSPCC
Samaritans 08457909090
Samaritans | Every life lost to suicide is a tragedy | Here to listen
Young Minds 08088025544
YoungMinds | Mental Health Charity For Children And Young People | YoungMinds
Useful Contacts
Worried about a child?
If a child is in immediate danger, you should always ring the police or ambulance services on 999.
For any non-urgent reports to the police contact 101.
Important contacts:
Child line free phone number: 08001111
C-SPOC (children’s single point of contact team Southend): 01702 215007 Outside of working hours please call 0345 606 1212.
Some useful links:
Safeguarding - Children | Safeguarding Southend Partnership
Attendance - School attendance – Southend-on-Sea City Council
Livewell Southend - THE Homepage – Livewell Southend
County Lines - Substance Use | The Children's Society
Prevent Radicalisation - ACT Early | Prevent radicalisation
Educate Against Hate - Educate Against Hate - Prevent Radicalisation & Extremism
Open road, drug and alcohol concerns - Advice For Parents, Carers & Teachers | Open Road Visions
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